BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


MM 


NOTICES   OF  FU-SANG, 

AND  OTHER  COUNTRIES  LYING  EAST  OF  CHINA, 

IN  THE   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE 

Antiquarian  Researches  of  Ma  Twan-Lin, 

WITH  NOTES. 


By   S.   WELLS   WILLIAMS, 

Professor  of  Chinese  Language  and  Literature  in  Yale  College. 


NEW    HAVEN: 

TUTTLE,    MO REHOUSE    &    TAYLOR,    PRINTERS 

1881. 


NOTICES  OF  FIJ-SANG, 

AND  OTHER  COUNTRIES  LYING  EAST  OF  CHINA, 

IN   THE   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE 

Antiquarian  Researches  of  Ma  Twan-Lin, 

WITH  NOTES. 


By   S.   WELLS    WILLIAMS,    'g  '' 
S/ 

Professor  of  Chinese  Language  and  Literature  in  Yale  College. 


NEW    HAVEN: 

TUTTLE,    MOREHOUSE    &    TAYLOR,    PRINTERS. 

1881. 


[FROM  THE  JOURNAL  OP  THE  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  SOCIETY,  VOL.  xi,  1881.] 


bancroft  UbiatfJ 


NOTICES  OF  FU-SANG. 


THE  origin  of  the  various  nations  arid  tribes  inhabiting  the 
American  Continent  is  a  question  that  has  attracted  the  atten 
tion  of  antiquarians  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  continent 
four  centuries  ago.  The  general  designation  of  "Indians," 
given  by  Columbus  to  the  people  whom  he  met,  shows  the 
notion  then  entertained  of  their  Asiatic  origin,  not  less  than 
his  ignorance  of  their  true  position.  Since  that  time,  numerous 
antiquarians  have  given  us  their'  ideas  and  researches  upon 
this  obscure  subject.  Some  have  combined  many  scattered 
facts  so  as  to  uphold  their  crude  fancies ;  while  others  have 
formed  a  theory,  and  then  hunted  over  the  continent  for  facts 
to  prove  it.  When  their  various  works  are  brought  together, 
comparison  only  shows  how  little  which  can  lead  to  a  definite 
conclusion  has  yet  been  .really  ascertained.  The  digest  of  the 
most  careful  of  these  travelers,  and  the  candid  analysis  of  the 
works  of  antiquarians  and  philologists,  given  by  H.  EL  Bancroft 
in  the  fifth  volume  of  his  laborious  work  on  the  Native  Eaces 
of  the  Pacific  States  (pp.  1-136),  fully  upholds  his  concluding 
sentence  as  to  the  present  state  of  this  question :  "  To  all 
whose  investigations  are  a  search  for  truth,  darkness  covers  the 
origin  of  the  American  peoples  and  their  primitive  history,  save 

VOL.  xi.  12 


4  Ma  Twan- Lin's 

for  a  few  centuries  preceding  the  Conquest  The  darkness  is 
lighted  up  here  and  there  by  dim  niys  of  conjecture,  which 
only  become  fixed  lights  of  facts  in  the  eyes  of  antiquarians 
whose  lively  imaginations  enable  them  to  see  best  in  the  dark, 
and  whose  researches  are  but  a  sifting  out  of  supports  to  a  pre 
conceived  opinion." 

Since  the  publication  of  this  work,  in  1875,  attention  has 
been  again  directed  to  a  hypothesis  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
native  races — namely,  that  America  was  peopled  from  China— 
by  the  issue  of  Mr.  C.  G.  Leland's  book  entitled  Fusang,  or  the 
Discovery  of  America  by  Chinese  Buddhist  Priests  in  the  Fifth 
Century.  Mr.  Bancroft  had  already  collected  the  leading 
data  upon  this  particular  point  (volume  v.,  pp.  34-51),  and 
Mr.  Leland  adduces  no  new  facts.  He  brings  together  in  a 
convenient  form  what  he  has  collected  from  De  Guignes,  Neu 
mann,  and  d'Eichthal  in  favor  of  his  theory ;  while  he  analyzes 
and  criticises  the  remarks  of  Klaproth,  Sampson,  and  Bret- 
Schneider  against  it. 

I  have  thought  that  a  translation  of  the  sections  describing 
the  lands  lying  to  the  east  of  China  found  in  the  work  of  Ma 
Twan-lin  would  tend  to  place  his  notice  of  Fu-sang  in  its  true 
light,  and  help  us  to  guess  where  that  country  should  be 
looked  for.  This  distinguished  Chinese  author  belonged  to  a 
literary  family,  and  spent  his  life  in  collecting  and  arranging 
the  materials  for  his  great  work,  the  Wan  Hien  Tung  Kao 
(3t  JJR  38.  3%)  or  Antiquarian  Kesearches,  which  was  published 
about  the  year  1321,  by  the  Mongol  emperor  Jin-tsung,  a 
nephew  of  Kublai  Khan.  Ma  Twan-lin's  life  was  passed  amid 
the  troublous  times  of  the  conquests  of  the  Mongols,  and  his 
father  held  a  high  office  at  the  court  of  the  emperors  of  the 
Sung  dynasty  at  Hangchow.  He  was  busily  engaged  with 
these  labors  during  the  whole  period  of  the  residence  of  Marco 
JPolo  in  China  (1275  to  1295),  and  their  deaths  probably  occur 
red  about  the  year  1325. 

The  Antiquarian  Researches  now  contains  348  chapters 
(kiien),  arranged  without  any  natural  sequence,  under  twenty- 
live  different  heads,  as  Chronology,  Classics,  Religion,  Dynasties, 
etc.  The  hist  title  is  called  &'  I  Kao  (0  ^  %)  or  Re 
searches  into  the  Four  Frontiers.  In  it  are  gathered  together 
in  twenty-four  chapters  all  the  information  that  the  author 
could  collect  respecting  foreign  kingdoms  and  peoples.  He 
himself  seems  never  to  have  traveled  outside  of  his  own  land  ; 
and  during  the  ruthless  wars  of  the  Mongols  he  was  probably 
glad  to  escape  all  molestation  by  staying  quietly  at  his  home 
at  Po-yang,  in  Kiangsi  province.  The  eight  volumes  contain 
ing  these  notices  of  other  countries  must  consequently  be 
regarded  only  as  the  carefully  written  notes  of  a  retired  scholar, 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  6 

who  was  unable  to  test  their  value  or  accuracy  by  any  standard. 
either  of  his  own  personal  observation,  or  of  the  criticisms  of 
those  among  his  acquaintances  who  had  gone  abroad.  The 
energy  and  skill  of  the  great  Khan,  so  unlike  the  effete  and 
ignorant  rule  of  the  native  rnonarchs  at  Hangchow,  must  have 
developed  much  mental  and  physical  vigor  among  his  subjects. 
An  author  like  Ma  Twan-lin  would  therefore  be  stimulated  to 
gather  all  the  information  he  could,  no  matter  whence  it  came, 
to  enrich  his  work.  His  design  was  more  like  that  of  Hackluvt 
or  Purchas  than  that  of  Rollin  or  La  Harpe ;  and  in  carrying  it 
out  he  has  done  a  good  service  for  the  literature  of  his  native 
land. 

In  his  survey  of  lands  beyond  the  Middle  Kingdom,  he 
commences  on  the  east  and  goes  around  to  the  south  and  west, 
describing  each  country  without  much  reference  to  those  near 
it.  Having  no  data  for  ascertaining  their  distances,  size,  or 
relative  importance,  he  makes  no  distinction  between  islands, 
peninsulas,  and  continents;  for  of  all  such  things  his  country 
men  are  even  now  just  beginning  to  learn.  When  he  died,  the 
political  boundaries  and  names  of  the  divisions  in  the  vast 
empire  of  Kublai,  who  died  at  least  thirty  years  before,  had 
already  begun  to  change;  and  this  source  of  error  could  not 
well  be  analyzed  or  corrected  by  him.  These  conditions  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  when  estimating  his  notices  of  countries 
lying  outside  of  China.  ' 

The  twenty-four  chapters  in  the  Sz  I  Kao  comprise  250 
titles  in  all,  but  this  does  not  mean  90  many  kingdoms.  There 
are  twenty -five  located  on  the  east,  seventy- three  on  the  south, 
and  twenty-four  on  the  west ;  and  after  these  come  brief 
accounts  of  seventy-eight  regions  still  further  west,  even  to 
Constantinople,  which  is  regarded  as  a  separate  kingdom. 
The  last  eight  chapters  notice  fifty  more  regions  on  the  extreme 
north.  An  idea  of  the  difficulties  Ma  labored  under  in  prepar 
ing  these  accounts  may  perhaps  be  obtained  by  imagining  the 
trouble  an  Arabian  antiquarian,  writing  in  the  year  1800,  and 
ignorant  of  European  languages,  would  find  in  compiling  a 
history  of  Germany  for  the  ten  previous  centuries. 

His  plan  of  grouping  them  by  their  bearings  from  China 
helps  us  a  little  when  looking  for  them  ;  and  as  my  present 
purpose  is  only  to  give  what  he  says  of  those  situated  eastward 
beyond  sea,  this  paper  is  narrowed  down  to  nine  sections.  Of 
these,  Japan  is  the  longest,  and  is  the  seventh  in  the  series. 
Between  it  and  Hia-i,  eight  countries  are  mentioned,  which 
are  all  now  known  to  have  been  on  the  mainland.  Thirty 
pages  are  devoted  to  Wo  Kivoh  (|g  g)  or  Japan  ;  though  it 
is  placed  in  the  series  out  of  its  proper  order,  between  Fu-yu 
(^  f&)  and  Kao-ku-li  (jg  'pj  f|),  kingdoms  lying  within 


6  Ma  Twan- Lin's 

the  basin  of  the  Songari  river  in  the  present  Manchuria.  The 
sixteenth  in  the  list  is  Hia-i,  or  Yezo.  It  comes  next  to  Poh- 
^ai  (Wl  $$)>  a  region  identified  with  the  maritime  part  of  the 
recently  acquired  Russian  possessions  east  of  the  river  Usuri. 


SECT.    xvi. — HIA-I    (jg   J^),   THE    LAND    OF    THE    SHRIMP   OR 
CRAB  BARBARIANS  OR  FOREIGNERS. 

Hia-i  is  the  name  of  an  island  in  the  sea ;  it  is  a  small  kingdom. 
Its  chiefs  have  beards  more  than  four  feet  long.  The  people  arc* 
very  skillful  with  their  bows  and  javelins;  they  stick  the  arrows 
in  their  heads  (or  hair).  They  will  compel  people  to  hold  the 
arrows,  and  then,  standing  oft'  many  tens  of  paces,  will  hit  the 
arrows  without  ever  missing.  In  the  autumn  of  the  year  A.  D. 
660,  envoys  came  from  this  kingdom  in  attendance  upon  those 
from  Japan. 

The  mention  of  the  long  beards  of  these  foreigners  identi 
fies  them  with  the  Ainos,  who  still  dwell  in  Yezo.  Professor 
A,  F.  Bickmore*  regards  them  as  the  relics  of  an  early  Aryan 
race,  which  gradually  emigrated  eastward  in  prehistoric  times, 
or  were  driven  by  more  powerful  races  further  and  further 
eastward  till  they  reached  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Others,  with 
more  probability,  and  more  advantage  of  examination  and 
comparison,  look  upon  them  as  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
the  Japan  islands,  and  hold  that  the  present  Japanese  are  the 
offspring  of  a  mixture  between  the  Ainos  and  a  southern  race, 
which  invaded  the  group  before  the  Christian  era. 

The  word  Ainos  is  derived,  according  to  one  Japanese  expla 
nation,  from  the  early  Chinese  pronunciation  of  f^  $(,  meaning 
the  '  bondmen  of  the  Japanese.'  Another  account  is  that  it 
is  changed  from  inu  'a  dog1 ;  a  third  explains  it  by  the  phrase 
ai-no-ko,  or  l  offspring  of  the  middle,'  i.  e.  a  breed  between 
man  and  beast.  The  last  two  are  given  by  Griffis,  and  they  all 
go  to  prove  the  antiquity  of  this  peculiar  people.  The  slight 
notice  of  Ma  Twan-lin  shows  that  the  Chinese  knew  almost 
nothing  of  them,  and  regarded  them  as  entirely  uncivilized. 
A  Japanese  description  of  the  whole  island,  dated  A.  D.  1786, 
indicates  that  the  Ainos  then  formed  only  a  part  of  the  popula 
tion  of  Yezo;  and  Klaproth  criticises  the  mistakes  of  Euro 
pean  voyagers  in  relation  to  their  diffusion  along  the  islands  on 
the  Pacific  coast  It  is  not  at  all  "unlikely  that  the  envoy  from 
Japan  mentioned  in  this  notice  was  sent  to  the  great  Emperor 
Kao-tsu  of  T'ang  in  A.  D.  660,  in  consequence  of  the  victory 
obtained  about  that  time  by  the  Chinese  over  the  Coreans. 

*  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  vol.  xlv.,  May,  1868.  This  carefully 
prepared  paper  contains  most  of  the  facts  ascertained  respecting  them.  £ee  also 
Miss  Bird's  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan,  vol.  ii. 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  7 

SECT.    xvn.  —  FU-SANG  (J£  Jj|),  OR  THE  KINGDOM  OF  FUSANG. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  reign  Yung-yuen  of  the  emperor  Tung 
Hwan-hau  of  the  Tsi  dynasty  (A.  D.  499),  a  Shaman  priest  named 
Hwui-shin  arrived  at  King-chau  from  the  kingdom  of  Fusang. 
He  related  as  follows :  "  Fu-sang  lies  east  of  the  kingdom  of 
Ta-han  more  than  20,000  li;  it  is  also  east  of  the  Middle  King 
dom.  It  produces  m&ny  fu-sang  trees,  from  which  it  derives  its 
name.  The  leaves  of  the  fu-sang  resemble  those  of  the  tung  tree. 
It  sprouts  forth  like  the  bamboo,  and  the  people  eat  the  shoots. 
Its  fruit  resembles  the  pear,  but  is  red ;  the  bark  is  spun  into 
cloth  for  dresses  ;  and  woven  into  brocade.  The  houses  are  made 
of  planks.  There  are  no  walled  cities  with  gates.  The  [people] 
use  characters  and  writing,  making  paper  from  the  bark  of  the 
fu-sang.  There  are  no  mailed  soldiers,  for  they  do  not  carry  on 
war.  The  law  of  the  land  prescribes  a  southern  and  a  northern 
prison.  Criminals  convicted  of  light  crimes  are  put  into  the  for 
mer,  and  those  guilty  of  grievous  offenses  into  the  latter.  Crimi 
nals  when  pardoned  are  let  out  of  the  southern  prison ;  but  those 
in  the  northern  prison  are  not  pardoned.  Prisoners  in  the  latter 
marry.  Their  boys  become  bondmen  when  eight  years  old,  and 
the  girls  bondwomen  when  nine  years  old.  Convicted  criminals 
are  not  allowed  to  leave  their  prison  while  alive.  If  the  sentence 
is  a  capital  one,  at  the  time  they  separate,  they  surround  [the 
body]  with  ashes.  When  a  nobleman  (or  an  official)  has  been 
convicted  of  crime,  the  great  assembly  of  the  nation  meets  and 
places  the  criminal  in  a  hollow  (or  pit);  they  set  a  feast  with 
wine  before  him,  and  then  take  leave  of  him.  For  crimes  of  the 
first  grade,  the  sentence  involves  only  the  person  of  the  culprit; 
for  the  second,  it  reaches  the  children  and  grandchildren ;  while 
the  third  extends  to  the  seventh  generation. 

The  king  of  this  country  is  termed  yueh-ki;  the  highest  rank 
of  nobles  is  called  tui-lu;  the  next  little  tui-lu;  and  the  lowest 
no-cha-sha.  When  the  king  goes  abroad,  he  is  preceded  and  fol 
lowed  by  drummers  and  trumpeters.  The  color  of  his  robes 
varies  with  the  years  in  the  cycle  containing  the  ten  stems.  It  is 
azure  in  the  first  two  years ;  red  in  the  second  two ;  yellow  in  the 
third ;  white  in  the  fourth ;  and  black  in  the  last  two  years. 

There  are  oxen  with  long  horns,  so  long  that  they  will  hold 
things — the  biggest  as  much  as  five  pecks.  Vehicles  are  drawn 
by  oxen,  horses,  and  deer;  for  the  people  of  that  land  rear  deer 
just  as  the  Chinese  rear  cattle,  and  make  cream  of  their  milk. 
They  have  red  pears,  which  will  keep  a  year  without  spoiling ; 
water  rushes  and  peaches  are  common.  Iron  is-  not  found  in  the 
ground,  though  copper  is ;  they  do  not  prize  gold  or  silver,  and 
trade  is  conducted  without  rent,  duty,  or  fixed  prices. 

In  matters  of  marriage,  it  is  the  law  that  the  [intending]  son- 
in-law  must  erect  a  hut  before  the  door  of  the  girl's  house,  and 
must  sprinkle  and  sweep  the  place  morning  and  evening  for  a 
whole  year.  If  she  then  does  not  like  him,  she  bids  him  depart  • 


8  Ma  Twan-Liris 

but  if  she  is  pleased  with  him,  they  are  married.  The  bridal  cere 
monies  are  for  the  most  part  like  those  of  China.  A  fast  of  si-vrn 
days  is  observed  for  parents  at  their  death,  five  for  grandparents, 
and  three  days  for  brothers,  sisters,  uncles,  and  aunts.  Images  to 
represent  their  spirits  are  set  up,  before  which  they  worship  and 
pour  out  libations  morning  and  evening  ;  but  they  wear  no  mourn 
ing  or  fillets.  The  successor  of  the  king  does  not  attend  person 
ally  to  government  affairs  for  the  first  three  years. 

In  olden  times  they  knew  nothing  of  the  Buddhist  religion,  but 
during  the  reign  Ta-ming,  of  the  Emperor  Hiao  \Vu-ti  of  the 
Sung  dynasty  (A.  D.  458),  five  beggar  priests  went  there  from 
Ki-pin.  They  traveled  over  the  kingdom,  everywhere  making 
known  the  laws,  canons,  and  images  of  that  faith.  Priests  of 
regular  ordination  were  set  apart  among  the  natives,  and  the  cus 
toms  of  the  country  became  reformed. 

Ma  Twan-lin  makes  no  comment  on  this  narrative,  nor  does 
he  tell  us  whence  Hwui-shin  (|j|  g£)  got  it ;  he  did  not  feel 
obliged  to  discuss  its  veracity,  or  explain  its  obscurities.  The 
first  impression  made  upon  one  who  reads  it  with  the  idea  that 
Fa-sang  lay  somewhere  on  the  American  continent,  is  that  it 
proves  rather  too  much,  judging  by  what  we  yet  know  of  the 
nations  and  tribes  who  once  dwelt  there.  I  do  not  mean  that 
the  notices  it  gives  of  the  houses,  unwalled  cities,  curious  mode 
of  judging  prisoners,  and  mourning  customs,  could  not  have 
applied  to  the  natives  of  Mexico  or  Peru  ;  but  it  has  not  the 
air  of  the  narrative  of  a  man  who  had  actually  lived  there. 
It  is  easy  to  reply  that  all  traces  of  the  people  mentioned  have 
been  lost,  so  that  our  present  ignorance  of  their  early  civiliza 
tion  proves  nothing  either  way.  Still  this  account  reads  more 
like  the  description  of  a  land  having  many  things  in  common 
with  countries  well-known  to  the  speaker  and  his  hearers,  but 
whose  few  peculiarities  were  otherwise  worth  recording.  The 
shaman  Hwui-shin  may  have  been  one  of  the  five  priests  who 
went  to  Fu-sang  from  Ki-pin  only  forty  years  before  his  arrival 
at  Kingchau  (fij  JH)»  the  capital  of  the  Tsi  dynasty.  A7- 
phi  is  the  Chinese  name  for  Coph&ne,  a  region  mentioned  by 
the  Buddhist  traveler  Fa-hien  (Chap,  v.)  under  that  name,  and 
by  Strabo  and  Pliny  as  situated  between  Ghazni  and  Canda- 
h'ar,  along  the  western  slopes  of  the  Suleiman  Mts.,  in  the 
upper  valleys  of  the  Helmond  river.  These  priests  had  prob 
ably  traveled  faf  north  of  China  in  their  missionary  tour,  as 
described  by  DeGuignesand  d'Eichthal  (Lelancl,  pp.  143,144), 
and  lived  in  Fa-sang  until  it  had  become  familiar  to  them.  I 
think  that  Ma  Twan-lin  inserts  Hwui-shin's  account  next  to 
that  of  Hia-i,  from  an  idea  that  both  kingdoms  lay  in  the  same 
direction.  He  seems  to  have  found  no  accounts  of  a  later 
date,  and  the  long  interval  of  seven  centuries  had  furnished 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  9 

nothing  worth  recording  about  a  land  so  insignificant  as  Fu- 
sang.  We  can  hardly  imagine  that  such  would  have  been  the 
case  with  a  country  to  be  reached  by  a  long  sea  voyage,  one 
where  stupendous  mountains,  great  rivers,  well-built  cities  or 
citadels,  and  people  with  black  or  dark  red  complexions, 
would'  each  make  a.  deep  impression  upon  an  Asiatic.  It  is 
just  as  likely  that  junks  drifted  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  the 
sixth  century  as  in  the  nineteenth  ;  but  Hwui-shin  is  as  silent 
respecting  the  manner  in  which  he  returned  from  Fu-sang,  as 
of  the  way  he  reached  it.  If  the  five  priests  had  traveled 
towards  Okotsk,  and  beyond  the  Kiver  Anadyr,  till  they  reached 
Behring's  Straits,  and  then  slowly  found  their  way  down  to 
warmer  climes,  this  would  naturally  form  part  of  the  story. 
Silence  on  all  these  points  makes  one  hesitate  in  coming  to  the 
conclusion  that  Fu-sang  formed  any  part  of  America. 

The  internal  evidences  to  be  deduced  from  what  is  stated 
are  still  more  opposed  to  that  conclusion.  In  our  present  state 
of  knowledge  of  the  ancient  American  languages,  so  far  as  I 
can  learn,  it  would  be  a  vain  search  to  look  for  any  words 
among  them  suggesting  the  names  of  yueh-ki  (£,  J|$)  for  king; 
tui-lu  (§;)•  jj)  for  a  high  noble  ;  siao  tui-la  (>J>  |jj  ^)  for  a 
secondary  grandee;  and  no-cha-sha  ($jfy  PjlJ  {j?).for  those  of  the 
lowest  rank.  It  is  not  possible,  at  this  date,  to  be  quite  sure 
what  sounds  were  intended  by  the  priest,  or  by  the  historian, 
to  be  represented  by  these  Chinese  characters  in  transliterating 
the  three  foreign  words :  but  those  here  given  are  the  present 
sounds  in  the  court  dialect,  and  probably  near  their  originals. 

But  the  next  statement,  respecting  the  changes  required 
every  two  years  in  the  color  of  the  king's  dress,  carries  with  it 
altogether  too  much  likeness  to  Chinese  ritualism  to  be  over 
looked.  It  needs  a  little  explanation  to  be  made  clear.  The 
sexagenary  cycle  used  in  Eastern  Asia  from,  remote  times  is 
made  by  repeating  ten  stems  six  times  in  connection  with 
twelve  branches  repeated  five  times;  the  two  characters  united 
form  the  name  of  a  year.  The  ten  years  containing  the  ten 
stems  begin  with  the  first  year  of  the  sixty.  Consequently, 
the  first  and  second  years,  the  eleventh  and  twelfth,  the  twenty- 
first  and  twenty-second,  and  so  on  to  the  last  decade,  will  con 
tain  the  same  two  stems — kiah  yueh  (^  £)  five  times  over; 
in  these  two  years,  the  king's  dress  must  be  (sing  (^tf)  or 
azure  color.  In  the  next  two,  the  third  and  fourth  in  each 
decade,  the  stems  ping  tiny  (pj  "J  )  require  it  to  be  chih  (jj^), 
red  or  carnation.  In  the  next  two  the  stems  wu-ki  (jrj^  £,) 
require  it  to  be  hwang  ( J|),  yellow  ;  in  the  fourth  binary 
combination,  the  stems  kdng  shi  (j|?  ^)  require  it  to  be  peh 
((Ej),  white.  Lastly,  the  two  stems  jin  kwei  (££•  §|),  denoting 
the  ninth  and  tenth  years  of  each  decade,  close  the  series,  and 


10  Ma  Twan- Lin's 

then  his  robes  are  to  be  heh  (J3|),  black.  These  five  are  the 
primitive  colors  of  Chinese  philosophy. 

Nothing  analogous  to  this  custom  has  ever  been  recognized 
among  the  Aztec,  Peruvian,  or  Maya  people.  The  ten  stems 
in  these  five  couples  indicate  among  the  Chinese  and  Japanese 
the  operation  of  the  five  elements,  wood,  fire,  earth,  metal, 
water,  in  their  active  and  passive  exhibitions  ;  each  one  destroys 
its  predecessor,  and  produces  its  successor,  in  a  perpetual 
round  of  evolutionary  forces.  The  mention  of  such  an  obser 
vance  in  Fu-sang  seems  to  fix  its  location  in  Eastern  Asia, 
where  the  sexagenary  computation  of  time  has  long  been 
known.  It  was  a  curious  usage  which  would  strike  a  priest 
familiar  with  the  Chinese  ritual. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  worship  of  ancestral  manes  and 
images,  and  of  the  three  years'  mourning  by  the  new  king. 
The  efforts  to  explain  the  big  horns  of  the  oxen,  the  red  pears 
which  will  keep  a  year,  and  the  vehicles  drawn  by  horses, 
have  each  their  difficulties  if  applied  to  anything  yet  known  of 
the  nations  of  ancient  America  along  the  Pacific  coast,  but 
may  be  applied  to  northern  Asia  with  some  allowances.  I  think 
the  red  pears  may  denote  persimmons,  which  are  dried  for 
winter  use,  and  to  this  day  form  a  common  article  for  native 
ships'  stores. 

The  identification  of  the  tree  fu-sang,  on  which  the  notice 
chiefly  turns,  is  not  yet  complete.  Klaproth  refers  it  to  the 
Hibiscus  rosa-si.nensis,  but  I  agree  with  Dr.  Bretschneider  in 
making  it  to  be  the  Broussonetia  papyri/era,  or  paper  mulberry, 
&  common  and  useful  tree  in  Northeastern  Asia.  The  use 
asserted  to  be  made  of  the  bark  in  manufacturing  paper  and 
dresses  does  not  apply  to  the  Hibiscus  nearly  so  well,  though 
that  plant  also  produces  some  textile  fibers;  as  does  also 
another  large  tree  not  yet  entirely  identified,  belonging  to  the 
family  Tiliaceae  or  lindens.  The  further  statement,  too,  that 
its  shoots  are  eatable  like  those  of  the  bamboo,  is  inapplicable 
to  the  agave  of  Mexico,  as  well  as  to  the  Hibiscus,  the  linden, 
or  Broussonetia,  none  of  which  are  endogenous.  It  is  one  of 
the  inaccuracies  of  the  description,  and  cannot  be  reconciled 
with  either  plant.  The  maguey  made  from  the  agave  is  better 
fitted  for  threads  and  cloth  than  for  making  paper.  The  fruit 
or  berry  of  the  Broussonetia  is  reddish,  indeed,  but  no  one 
would  liken  it  to  a  li  (JjJ)  or  pear.  If  the  agave  is  intended, 
as  Mr.  Leland  urges,  it  is  very  probable  that  Hwui-shin  would 
have  said  something  about  the  intoxicating  drink  called  pulque, 
obtained  from  the  leaves,  rather  than  have  likened  them  to  the 
tung  (flji)),  as  he  has  done.  This  last  tree  is  either  the  ^Ehococca 
or  Pawlonia,  both  well  known  in  China  and  Japan  :  so  that  an 
omission  to  speak  of  the  pulque  becomes  rather  an  evidence 
against  the  agave  being  the  fu-sang  tree. 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  11 

The  remark  about  the  fibers  being  woven  into  brocade  is 
also  true  of  the  Broussonetia.  A  beautiful  fabric  is  made  in 
Japan  by  weaving  them  with  a  woof  of  silk,  but  nothing  of 
this  sort  could  be  made  from  the  weak  agave  fibers.  More 
over,  the  Broussonetia  has  not  been  found  in  Mexico,  although 
Neumann  thinks  that  it  once  existed  there.  His  argument  in 
this  respect  is  worth  quoting  as  an  instance  of  the  general 
quality  of  those  adduced  to  prove  that  Fu-sang  was  in  America : 
u  We  know  that  the  flora  of  the  northwestern  part  of  America  is 
closely  allied  to  that  of  China,  Japan,  and  other  lands  of  East 
ern  Asia.  We  may  also  assume  that  the  fu-sang  tree  was 
formerly  found  in  America,  and  afterwards,  through  neglect, 
became  extinct.  ...  It  is,  however,  much  more  probable  that 
the  traveler  described  a  plant  hitherto  unknown  to  him,  which 
supplies  as  many  wants  in  Mexico  as  the  original  fu-sang  is 
said  to  do  in  Eastern  Asia — I  mean  the  great  American  aloe, 
called  by  the  Indians  maguey.  From  the  crushed  leaves,  even 
at  the  present  day,  a  firm  paper  is  prepared.  Upon  such  paper 
the  hieroglyphic  manuscripts  alluded  to  by  the  Buddhist  mis 
sionary,  and  destroyed  by  the  fanatic  Spaniards,  were  written." 
— I/eland's  Fusang,  page  37. 

The  word  kin  ($§)  applied  to  the  curious  paper-silk  brocade 
manufactured  from  the  fu-sang  bark,  according  to  Ma  Twan- 
lin's  text,  is  also  applied  to  embroidery  and  parti-colored 
textures.  It  is  not  so  much  the  damask-like  figure  that 
is  the  essential  point ;  but  among  the  Chinese  the  kin  always 
has  a  variety  of  colors.  This  seems  to  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  Hwui-shin,  and  the  remarkable  iridescence  of  some 
specimens  of  this  Japanese  mulberry  silk  still  excites  admira 
tion.  Professor  Neumann  says  that  in  the  year-books  of 
Liang  he  found  the  reading  to  be  mien  (jg),  'floss';  but  the 
textual  character  kin  has  more  authority  in  its  favor,  and  is 
found  in  the  Yuen  Kien  Lui  Han.  He  translates  the  sentence  : 
"From  the  bark  they  prepare  a  sort  of  linen  which  they  use 
for  clothing,  and  a  sort  of  ornamental  stuff."  The  word  pu 
(/||l),  here  rendered  linen,  is  now  confined  to  cotton  fabrics, 
but  the  distinction  aimed  at  in  the  two  terms  used  seems  to 
have  been  that  of  a  plain  fabric  and  a  brocaded  one,  like  the 
Japanese  nisiki. 

It  may  be  added,  lastly,  that  many  fables  have  gathered 
around  the  tree  and  the  country  of  Fu-sang,  which  increase 
the  difficulty  of  their  identification.  For  instance,  the  Shih 
Ghau  Ki,  quoted  in  the  native  lexicon  Pei-wan  Yin  Fu,  says : 
"The  fu-sang  grows  on  a  land  in  the  Pih  Hai  or  Azure  Sea, 
where  it  is  abundant;  the  leaves  resemble  the  common  mul 
berry  (sang  Jj|),  and  it  bears  the  same  kind  of  berries  (shin  ^J)  ; 
the  trunk  rises  several  thousand  rods  (chang  ?£),  and  is 

VOL.    XI.  13 


12  Ma  Tioan-Li,). 

more  than  two  thousand  rods  in  girth.  Two  trunks  grow 
from  one  root,  and  lean  upon  each  other  as  they  rise ;  whence 
it  gets  the  name  fu-sang  (fa  |j|),  i.  e.  supporting  mulberry." 
The  use  of  the  technical  word  shin  for  the  fruit  of  the  fu-sang 
is  a  very  strong  argument  for  its  being  the  Broussonetia,  and 
shows  that  its  affinity  to  the  silk  mulberry  (Morns')  had  been 
noticed. 

Since  the  publication  of  Mr.  Leland's  book,  the  Marquis 
d'Hervey  de  St.-Denys,  who  has  succeeded  Stanislas  Julien  in 
the  Chinese  Professorship  at  Paris,  has  contributed  a  paper  in 
the  Transactions  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles 
Lettres  for  1876,  which  contains  some  additional  notices  of  Fu- 
sang.  Among  these  is  an  extract  translated  from  the  Liang 
iSz1  Rung  Ki  (fj}|  0  Q  $£)  or  Memoirs  of  Four  Lords  of 
the  Liang  Dynasty,  which  throws  some  light  on  the  times  in 
which  Hwui-shin  lived,  and  the  circumstances  attending  his 
arrival  at  King-chau.  The  Marquis  shows  that  it  was  just  at 
the  overthrow  of  the  Tsi  dynasty  that  the  priest  came  as  envoy 
from  Fa-sang,  and  had  to  wait  three  years  before  the  Emperor 
Wu-ti  of  the  Liang  dynasty  could  receive  him.  The  section  in 
Ma  Twan-lin  he  justly  regards  as  a  copy  of  the  official  report 
made  to  his  superiors  by  Yu  Kieb,  one  of  these  four  Lords, 
obtained  from  Hwui-shin,  the  envoy.  It  is  quite  unlike 
the  usage  in  such  cases  that. nothing  is  said  in  the  official 
annals  of  the  presents  offered  by  him ;  these,  if  they  had 
come  from  America,  would  have  been  different  from  any 
thing  before  seen,  and  therefore  likely  to  be  recorded.  Such 
a  list,  however,  did  not  necessarily  fall  within  Ma's  pur 
pose  when  describing  Fu-sang.  The  Marquis  notices  some 
of  the  presents  offered,  which  are  spoken  of  in  the  Memoirs  of 
the  Four  Lords,  and  also  some  popular  notions  of  that  day  con 
cerning  Fu-sang.  He  identifies  the  envoy  with  the  shaman 
Hwui-shin,  and  concludes,  with  reason,  that  he  was  one  of  the 
five  priests  who  went  in  $ie  year  458  from  Ki  pin.  I  have  no 
copy  of  the  Liang  «SV  Kung  Ki,  and  therefore  quote  his  trans 
lation  • 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  year  502,  an  envoy  from  the 
kingdom  of  Fu-sang  was  introduced,  ami  having  offered  different 
things  from  his  country,  the  emperor  ordered  Yu  Kich  to  interro 
gate  him  on  the  manners  and  productions  of  Fu-sang,  the  history 
of  the  kingdom,  its  cities,  rivers,  mountains,  etc.,  in  conformity  to 
the  usage  practiced  at  court,  whenever  a  foreign  envoy  visited  it. 
The  envoy  from  Fu-sang  wept,  and  replied  with  a  respectful  ani 
mation,  says  the  Chinese  text,  such  as  an  old  man  would  exhibit 
when  he  found  himself  in  his  own  country  after  a  long  absence. 
The  presents  which  he  offered  consisted  especially  of  three  hundred 
pounds  of  yellow  silk,  produced  by  worms  found  on  the1 


Notices  of  Fu- sang.  13 

tree,  and  of  extraordinary  strength.  The  censer  of  the  empe 
ror,  made  of  solid  gold,  weighed  fifty  catties  (between  fifty  and 
sixty  pounds),  and  three  threads  of  this  silk  held  it  up  without 
breaking.  Among  the  presents  was  also  a  kind  of  semi-transpa 
rent  stone,  carved  in  the  form  of  a  mirror,  in  which,  when  the 
sun's  image  was  examined,  the  palace  in  the  sun  distinctly  ap 
peared 

"  One  day,  while  he  was  entertaining  the  Court  about  foreign 
countries,  the  magnate  Yu  Kieh  began  to  speak  thus: — 'In  the 
extreme  east  is  Fu-sang.  A  kind  of  silkworm  is  found  there 
which  is  seven  feet  long,  and  almost  seven  inches  around.  The 
color  is  golden.  It  takes  a  year  to  raise  them.  On  the  eighth 
day  of  the  fifth  moon,  the  worms  spin  a  yellow  silk  which  they 
stretch  across  the  branches  of  thefu-sanc/,  for  they  wind  no  coc- 
coons.  This  native  silk  is  very  weak,  but  if  it  be  boiled  in  the  lye 
made  from  the  ashes  of  fu-sang  wood  it  will  acquire  such  strength 
that  four  strands  well  twisted  together  are  able  to  hold  up  thirty 
catties.  The  eggs  of  these  silkworms  are  as  big  as  swallows' 
eggs.  Some  of  them  were  taken  to  Corea,  but  the  voyage  in 
jured  them,  and  when  they  hatched  out  they  were  ordinary  silk 
worms.  The  king's  palace  is  surrounded  with  walls  of  crystal. 
They  begin  to  be  clear  before  daylight,  and  become  all  at  once  in 
visible  when  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  occurs.' 

"  The  magnate  Yu  Kieh  proceeded  to  say : — *  About  ten  thous 
and  li  northwest  of  this  region  there  is  a  kingdom  of  women  ;  they 
have  serpents  for  husbands.  The  serpents  are  venomous  and  live 
in  holes,  whilst  their  spouses  dwell  in  houses  and  palaces.  No 
books  are  seen  in  this  kingdom,  nor  have  the  people  any  writing. 
They  firmly  believe  in  the  power  of  certain  sorceries.  The  wor 
ship  of  the  gods  imposes  obligations  which  no  one  dares  to  violate. 
In  the  middle  of  the  kingdom  is  an  island  of  fire  with  a  burning 
mountain,  whose  inhabitants  eat  hairy  snakes  to  preserve  them 
selves  from  the  heat ;  rats  live  on  the  mountain,  from  whose  fur 
an  incombustible  tissue  is  woven,  which  is  cleaned  by  putting  it 
into  the  fire  instead  of  washing  it.  North  of  this  kingdom  of 
women  there  is  a  dark  valley  ;  and  still  farther  north  are  some 
mountains  covered  with  snow  whose  peaks  reach  to  heaven.  The 
sun  never  shines  there,  and  the  luminous  dragon  dwells  in  this- 
valley.  West  of  it  is  an  intoxicating  fountain  whose  waters  have 
the  taste  of  wine.  In  this  region  is  likewise  found  a  sea  of  var 
nish  whose  waves  dye  plumes  and  furs  black;  and  another  sea 
having  the  color  of  milk.  The  land  surrounded  by  these  wonders 
is  of  great  extent  and  exceedingly  fertile.  One  sees  there  dogs 
and  horses  of  great  stature,  and  even  birds  which  produce  human 
beings.  The  males  born  of  them  do  not  live  ;  the  females  are 
carefully  reared  by  their  fathers,  who  carry  them  on  their  wings ; 
as  soon  as  they  begin  to  walk  they  become  mistresses  of  them 
selves.  They  are  remarkably  beautiful  and  very  hospitable,  but 
they  die  before  the  age  of  thirty.  The  hares  of  that  land  are  as 
big  as  the  horses  elsewhere,  having  fur  a  foot  long.  The  sables 
are  like  wolves  for  size,  with  black  fur  of  extraordinary  thickness.' 


14  Ma  Tw<t,,-Li,,. 

44 The  courtiers  were  greatly  amused  with  these  recitals,  laugh 
ing  and  clapping  their  hands,  while  they  assured  the  narrator  that 
they  had  never  heard  better  stories.  One  minister  interrupted  Yu 
Kieh  by  a  bantering  objection:  'If  one  can  put  any  tru>t  in  the 
official  reports  collected  in  relation  to  this  kingdom  of  women,  it 
might  be  all  simply  inhabited  by  savages  wh«»  arc  LT<»verned  by  a 
woman;  there  would  then  be  no  question  respecting  this  matter 
of  serpents  acting  as  husbands.  How  would  you  then  arrange 
this  matter?' 

"  Yu  Kieh  answered  pleasantly,  that  he  had  nothing  more  to 
say  on  that  point;  and  then  he  went  on  from  one  strange  story 
to  another  still  more  strange,  in  which  one  part  truth  was  mixed 
with  nine  parts  invention." 

The  whole  paper  from  which  this  extract  is  taken  does 
credit  to  its  author's  researches  into  this  matter,  however 
much  we  may  differ  from  his  inferences.  On  a  previous  page, 
he  adduces  further  proof  from  two  early  Chinese  authors, 
who  mention  Fu-sang.  One  of  them  is  Kiuh  Yuen,  who 
flourished  about  B.  C.  300,  and  wrote  the  poem  Le  Sao  or 
Dissipation  of  Sorrows,  which  has  since  become  a  classic 
among  his  countrymen.  In  it,  the  Marquis  says,  u  he 
traveled  in  thought  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  universe. 
On  the  north,  he  perceived  the  land  of  long  days  and  long 
nights ;  on  the  south,  the  boundless  ocean  met  his  view  ;  on 
the  west  he  saw  the  sun  set  in  a  lake,  perhaps  the  Tengiri-rior 
or  the  Caspian  Sea.  On  the  east,  in  spite  of  the  vastness  of 
the  Pacific,  and  of  the  idea  which  would  naturally  present  it 
self  to  his  mind,  as  the  sun  rose  from  the  abyss  of  waters,  he 
beheld  the  far-off  shores  receive  the  beams  of  Aurora,  and  in  a 
valley,  on  a  land  shaded  by  the  fu-sang  tree,  he  places  the 
limits  of  the  extreme  east." 

He  also  calls  in  another  author  to  fortify  the  poet,  namely, 
Tung  Fang-soh,  whose  work,  the  Shin-i  King  (%$  f|  g)  or 
Record  of  Strange  Wonders,  was  extant  in  the  Han  dynasty,  but 
.was  afterwards  lost.  That  now  bearing  his  name  has  been 
manipulated  by  subsequent  authors,  and  Mr.  Wylie  regards  it 
as  a  production  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century,  and  "the  mar 
velous  occupies  so  large  a  portion,  that  it  has  never  been  re 
ceived  as  true  narrative."  But  the  Marquis  does  not  so  regard 
it: — "The  works  of  Tung  Fang-soh,  which  treat  of  regions 
most  remote  from  China,  have  undergone  some  slight  altera 
tions  at  the  dictum  of  the  Chinese  literati,  who  inform  us  that 
the  alterations  which  they  suspect  date  back  to  the  fourth  cen 
tury  after  Christ.  Their  criticism,  far  from  diminishing  for  us 
its  authority,  becomes,  on  the  contrary,  a  valuable  testimony  of 
its  authenticity  at  that  date.  This  is  what  it  says:  'East  of 
this  Eastern  Ocean  is  the  country  of  Fu-sang.  When  one 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  15 

lands  on  its  shores,  if  he  continue  to  travel  on  by  land  still 
further  east  ten  thousand  li,  he  will  again  come  to  a  blue  sea, 
vast,  immense,  and  boundless.'  I  think  that  I  hazard  nothing 
in  saying  beforehand  that  it  is  impossible  to  apply  these  indi 
cations  of  Tung  Fang-soh  to  any  other  country  than  America." 

Fu-sang  and  Pang-lai  are  still  used  among  the  Chinese 
for  fairy  land,  and  are  referred  to  by  the  common  people  very 
much  as  the  Garden  of  the  Hesperides  and  Atlantis  were 
among  the  ancient  Greeks.  In  Hankow,  when  a  shopkeeper 
wishes  to  praise  the  quality  of  his  goods,  he  puts  on  his  sign 
that  they  are  from  one  or  other  of  these  lands.  The  latter  is 
perhaps  the  more  common  of  the  two,  for  it  has  become  asso 
ciated  with  the  conqueror  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti,  who  sent  an 
expedition,  about  B.  C.  220,  easterly  to  find  it  and  two  other 
islands,  called  San  Sien  Shan  (2L  fill  [lj),  or  Three  Fairy  Hills, 
where  the  genii  live.  Pang-lai  is  now  the  name  of  a  district 
in  the  province  of  Shantung  (better  known  from  the  prefectural 
city  Tangchau,  west  of  Chef  u),  which  commemorates  this  expedi 
tion  after  the  fairies.  Nothing  was  more  natural  to  people  living 
along  the  Yellow  River  in  the  days  of  Kiuh  Yuen  and  Tang 
Fang-soh,  when  Shantung  was  inhabited  by  wild  tribes,,  than  to 
regard  all  that  little  known  region  in  the  utmost  East  as  the 
abode  of  whatever  and  whoever  were  wonderful.  To  quote 
such  legends  as  corroborative  history  or  travel  needs  the 
support  of  some  authentic  statement  to  begin  with  ;  and  Hwui- 
shin  would  be  as  likely  to  connect  his  account  with  something 
his  hearers  would  recognize  as  existing  in  that  direction,  as  to 
make  up  a  story.  I  do  not  infer  that  neither  the  Chinese 
nor  Japanese  of  the  sixth  century  had  any  knowledge  of  the 
American  continent  from  other  sources,  for  it  was  as  easy  then 
for  vessels  to  drift  across  the  Pacific,  as  th^y  still  do ;  but  they 
could  not  drift  back  again,  and  when  once  landed  anywhere 
between  Alaska  and  Acapulco,  the  sailors  were  not  likely  to 
try  a  second  voyage  to  reach  their  homes. 

There  is,  furthermore,  an  unexplained  point  how  the  name  of 
the  ivQQ/u-sang  came  to  be  applied  to  the  kingdom  Fu-sang.  If 
the  Broussonetia  be  the  plant  denoted,  and  evervthing  confirms 
this  deduction,  one  would  have  expected  its  identity  or  likeness 
to  the  chu  shu  ($£  Jjjft),  its  Chinese  name,  to  have  been  men 
tioned.  It  is,  however,  quite  as  probable  that  the  tree  got  its' 
name  from  the  country,  for  the  manufacture  of  paper  from  its  bark 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  known  in  the  days  of  Kiuh  Yuen. 

Yu  Kieh's  pleasant  account  of  Fu-sang  and  its  silkworms  tends 
rather  to  show  that  in  his  day  it  was  a  region  which  everyone 
could  people  with  what  he  chose.  The  use  of  silk  among  the 
people  on  the  Pacific  coast  was,  according  to  H.  H.  Bancroft, 
mostly  confined  to  the  Mayas  in  Central  America  ;  it  was  by  no 


16  Ma  Twan-Lin, 

means  a  common  product,  and  mostly  used  in  combination  with 
cotton.  This  reference  by  Yu  Kieh,  although  so  exaggerated, 
tends  to  show  that  Fu-sang  was  regarded  as  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  place  it  in 
Saghalien  island. 

De  Gruignes  lays  much  stress  on  the  alleged  distance  of  Fu- 
sang  from  Ta-han,  and  ingeniously  reduces  the  20,000  ft',  or 
7,000  miles,  to  an  actual  estimate  of  the  road  taken  by  Ilwui- 
shin  (Leland,  page  128)  to  get  there.  In  the  introduction  to 
his  accounts  of  all  these  eastern  countries  in  Chap.  324,  Ma 
Twan  lin  places  the  Flowery  Land  in  the  center  of  the  universe 
(;£  Jtfe  2.  41) ;  ancl  tnen  a(Ms>  "East  of  China  lies  Wo-kwoh, 
also  called  Japan ;  east  of  Wo-kwoh,  further  on,  lies  Fu- 
sang,  about  30,000  li  from  China."  These  figures  are  much 
too  nap-hazard  to  depend  on  in  settling  this  point,  and  carrv 
less  weight  than  such  internal  evidence  as  we  can  analyze.  If 
compared  with  other  distances  applied  to  those  regions  by  this 
author,  we  soon  find  how  valueless  they  all  are.  No  one  in 
the  sixth  century  had  any  means  of  measuring  long  distances, 
or  taking  the  bearings  of  places,  so  as  to  make  even  a  rough 
guess  as  to  their  relative  positions,  if  he  had  tried  to  make  a 
map.  For  an  illustration  of  this  remark,  see  Dr.  Bretschneider's 
article  in  Transactions  of  North  China  Branch  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  No.  X,  1876,  where  lie  gives  an  example  of 
Asiatic  map-making  in  A.  D.  1331  to  show  the  divisions  of  the 
Mongol  Empire.  It  looks  like  a  checker-board. 

The  position  of  Fu-sang  cannot  therefore  be  yet  settled  from 
these  notices  ;  but  we  may,  as  the  Marquis  d'Hervey  de  St.- 
Denys  hopefully  remarks,  yet  see  the  day  when  the  immense 
riches  hidden  and  almost  lost  in  Chinese  books  will  be  brought 
out,  and  something  more  definite  on  this  head  be  discovered. 

I  have  only  two  other  quotations  to  add.  One  is  the  name 
Fiishi-koku,  i.  e.  the  kingdom  of  Fu-sang,  an  unusual  designation 
known  to  the  Japanese  themselves,  of  their  own  country  or  a 
part  of  it,  and  which  would  hardly  have  been  applied  to  a 
land  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  other  is  the 
mention  found  in  the  Ying-hwan  Chi  Lioh,  or  Geography  of 
the  World,  by  Sii  Ki-yii,  the  late  Governor  of  Fuhkien,  who 
wrote  it  in  1848.  In  speaking  of  the  troubles  in  Corea  caused 
by  the  Mongol  invasion,  and  the  ravages  of  the  Japanese  cor 
sairs  along  the  Chinese  coast  during  the  Ming  dynasty,  he  pro 
ceeds  to  say,  "But  as  the  rising  grandeur  of  our  present 
Imperial  house  began  to  diffuse  itself  afar,  its  quick  intelli 
gence  perceived  that  it  ought  first  to  scatter  [as  it  were]  slips 
from  the  fu-sang  tree  in  the  Valley  of  Sunrise;  and  thereby 
those  lands  (Corea  and  Japan)  were  awed  into  submission  for 
many  years,  and  our  eastern  frontier  remained  quiet  and  pro- 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  1 7 

tected  ;  neither  of  these  nations  presumed  to  iucroach  on  our 
possessions."  The  Valley  of  Sunrise,  used  in  the  Shu  King 
or  Book  of  Records,  is  regarded  as  a  synonym  of  Corea,  and 
the  fu-sang  tree  is  here  connected  with  that  land.  A  few  sen 
tences  on.  Gov.  Sii  quotes  from  another  book  called  Records  of 
Ten  Islands  or  Regions  :  "In  the  sea  towards  the  northeastern 
shores  lie  Fu-sang,  Pang-kiu  and  Ying-chau  ;  their  entire  cir 
cuit  is  a  thousand  li."  He  then  adds,  "I  think  that  the  story 
about  these  Three  Fairy  Hills  arose  from  the  exaggerated  de 
scriptions  of  our  own  writers,  who  used  them  to  deceive  and 
mislead  men  ;  for  really  they  were  small  islands  contiguous  to 
Japan  and  belonging  to  it.  If  their  ships  of  that  period  went 
to  them  out  in  the  ocean,  why  could  not  [our  people?]  find 
them  if  they  had  searched  for  them  ?"  He  then  relates  the 
quixotic  expedition  sent  by  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti  under  Sii  Fuh, 
to  find  them,  with  several  thousand  men  and  women,  none 
of  whom  ever  returned.  From  this  reference  it  may  be  con 
cluded  that  Gov.  Sii  regarded  Fu-sang  and  the  other  two  to 
belong  to  the  Kurile  islands  near  Yezo.  He  had  access  to  many 
works  in  his  own  literature,  and  took  unwearied  pains  to  get 
at  the  truth  of  what  he  was  writing  about,  by  asking  intelli 
gent  foreigners  who  were  able  to  tell  him.  Among  these  were 
Rev.  David  Abeel  (whose  aid  he  acknowledges),  and  M.  C. 
Morrison,  a  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Morrison,  the  missionary,  His 
opinion  deserves  to  be  received  as  that  of  an  intelligent  scholar, 
though  he  knew  nothing  of  the  question  started  by  De  Guignes. 
In  reading  the  Marquis's  translation  of  Yu  Kieh's  story,  an 
English  scholar  can  hardly  fail  to  compare  it  with  the  Voyage 
to  Laputa;  for  that  land  was  placed  not  far  from  Fu-sang  by 
its  clever  discoverer  and  historian.  Dean  Swift,  like  Yu  Kieb, 
drew  on  his  imagination  for  his  facts.  The  numerous  refer 
ences  in  that  Voyage  to  the  people  of  China,  their  institutions, 
peculiarities,  costumes,  and  manners,  must  have  been  derived 
or  suggested  to  him  by  the  writings  of  Semedo,  Martini,  Men- 
dez  Pinto,  and  other  travelers  in  Asia  before  1720,  which 
were  probably  in  Sir  William  Temple's  library.  But  one 
would  almost  as  soon  think  of  quoting  Swift's  assertion  in 
Chap.  iii.  of  this  Voyage  regarding  "the  two  lesser  stars  or 
satellites  which  revolve  about  Mars,"  as  proof  that  Prof. 
Asaph  Hall's  discovery  of  1876  had  been  already  known  in 
Queen  Anne's  reign,  as  to  seriously  undertake  from  these 
Chinese  authors  to  prove  that  they  knew  the  American  con 
tinent  by  the  name  of  Fu-sang. 


SECT.  xviu. — Nu  KWOH  (^  g),  OR  KINGDOM  OF  WOMEN. 

Concerning  the  Kingdom  of  Women  the  shaman  Hwui-shin  re 
lates  : — "  It  is  a  thousand  li  to  the  east  of  Fu-sang.     The  bearing 


18  Ma  Twan-Liu. 

and  manners  of  the  people  are  very  sedate  and  formal  ;  their 
color  is  exceedingly  clear  and  white;  their  bodies  are  hairy  and 
the  hair  of  the  head  trails  on  the  ground.  In  the  spring  they 
emulously  rush  into  the  water  and  become  pregnant;  the  chil 
dren  are  oorn  in  the  autumn.  These  female-men  have  no  paps  on 
their  bosoms,  but  hair-roots  grow  on  the  back  of  their  necks ;  a 
juice  is  found  in  the  white  ones.  The  children  are  suckled  a  hun 
dred  days,  when  they  can  walk ;  they  are  fully  grown  by  the 
fourth  year.  Whenever  they  see  a  man  they  flee  and  hide  from 
him  in  terror,  for  they  are  afraid  of  having  husbands.  They  eat 
pickled  greens,  whose  leaves  are  like  wild  celery;  the  odor  is 
agreeable  and  the  taste  saltish." 

In  the  year  A.  D.  508,  in  the  reign  of  Wu-ti  of  the  Liang 
dynasty,  a  man  from  Tsin-ngan  was  crossing  the  sea  when  he  was 
caught  in  a  storm  and  driven  to  a  certain  island.  On  going 
ashore  he  found  it  to  be  inhabited.  The  women  were  like  those 
in  China,  but  their  speech  was  unintelligible.  The  men  had  hu 
man  bodies,  but  their  heads  were  those  of  dogs,  and  their  voices 
resembled  the  barking  of  dogs.  Their  food  was  small  pulse  ; 
their  garments  were  like  cotton.  The  walls  of  their  houses  were 
of  adobie,  round  in  shape,  and  the  entrance  like  that  to  a  den. 

From  this  account  following  that  of  Fu-sang,  we  might  con 
clude  that  Ma  Twan-lin  regarded  Hwui-shin  alone  as  his  au 
thority  for  both  of  them,  as  he  is  quoted  at  the  beginning  of 
each  section.  But  the  incident  of  A.  D.  508  may  have  been 
taken  from  the  History  of  the  Liang  Dynasty.  The  mention 
of  Tsin-ngan  (|f  4g),  however,  as  the  residence  of  the  ship 
wrecked  man  who  found  the  Nil  Kwoh,  shows  how  little  de 
pendence  can  be  placed  on  the  Buddhist  priest's  estimate  of 
the  distance  or  direction  of  either  Fu-sang  or  Nil  Kwoh  from 
China.  The  only  seaport  of  that  day  named  Tsin-ngan  was 
the  present  Pu-tien  hien  (fjjj  0  JJ),  identical  with  the  pre- 
fectural  city  of  Hing-hwa,  situated  between  Fuhchau  and 
Tsiien-chau  in  the  province  of  Fuhkien.  This  man  was 
probably  a  fisherman  bound  for  the  Pescadore  Islands,  who 
was  driven  off  by  a  storm  through  the  Bashee  Straits  into  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  among  the  islands  east  of  the  Philippines.  I 
think  the  priest  is  not  responsible  for  the  sailor's  story,  as  it 
is  omitted  in  the  Yuen  Kien  Lui  Han,  and  only  the  first  part 
given.  The  legend  of  the  Nil  Kwoh  probably  applies  to  two 
places.  Sir  John  Maundevile*  places  his  Lond  of  Amazoyne 
beside  the  Lond  of  Caldee  where  Abraham  dwelt;  but  his  Yle 
of  Nacumera,  where  "  alle  the  men  and  women  of  that  "Yle 
have  Houndes  Hedes ;  and  thei  ben  clept  Cynocephali,"  might 
be  looked  for  where  the  History  of  the  Liang  Dynasty  puts 
them  as  well  as  anywhere  else. 

* Maundevile 's  Voyage,  ed.  by  Halliwell,  1839,  pp.  154,  197. 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  19 

In  his  Book  of  Marco  Polo  (ed.  1871,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  338-340), 
Col.  Yale  has  brought  together  notices  of  the  various  legends 
which  have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  Eastern  Asia  of  this 
fabled  land  of  Females,  to  illustrate  what  the  Venetian  has 
reported  in  Chap.  xxxi.  about  the  "Two  Islands  called  Male 
and  Female."  In  his  other  admirably  edited  work,  Cathay  and 
the  Way  Thither  (page  324),  he  alludes  to  the  report  of  Marig- 
nolli,  about  A.  D.  1330,  of  a  kingdom  in  Sumatra  ruled  by 
women.  The  first  part  of  Ma's  notice,  which  is  certainly 
ascribed  to  the  Shaman,  leads  one  to  look  northeasterly  toward 
the  Kurile  Islands  for  people  with  so  much  hair  ;  and  suggests 
a  comparison  with  the  inhabitants  of  Alaska  called  Kuchin  In 
dians,  described  in  Bancroft's  Native  Races,  vol.  i.,  pp.  115, 
147,  sqq.  But  it  would  not  be  worth  while  to  spend  much 
time  in  looking  for  this  fabled  land,  had  not  the  idea  got 
abroad  that  its  location  would  aid  in  identifying  Fu-sang  with 
some  part  of  Americ'a. 

SECT.  xix. — WAN  SHAN  (^  j|p),  OR  PICTURED  BODIES. 

During  the  Liang  dynasty  (A.  D.  502-556),  it  was  reported  that 
about  seven  thousand  li  to  the  northeast  of  Japan  there  was  a  coun 
try  whose  inhabitants  had  marks  on  their  bodies  such  as  are  on 
animals.  They  had  three  marks  on  their  foreheads.  Those  whose 
marks  were  large  and  straight  belonged  to  the  honorable  class, 
while  the  lower  sort  of  people  had  small  and  crooked  marks.  It 
is  a  custom  among  this  people  to  collect  a  great  variety  of  things 
of  a  very  poor  sort  to  amuse  themselves.  Those  who  travel  or 
peddle  do  not  carry  any  provision  with  them.  They  have  houses 
of  various  kinds,  but  no  walled  towns.  The  palace  of  the  king  is 
adorned  with  gold,  silver,  and  jewels  in  a  sumptuous  manner. 
The  buildings  are  surrounded  with  a  moat  over  ten  feet  broad. 
When  it  is  filled  with  quicksilver,  and  the  rain  is  allowed  to  flow 
off  from  the  quicksilver,  the  water  is  then  regarded  in  the  markets 
as  a  precious  rarity. 

It  is  not  certain  whether  marking  and  painting  the  body,  or 
tattooing  is  intended  by  this  term  wan  shdn ;  but  as  the  Chi 
nese  have  a  technical  term  king  Jg(,  used  in  this  extract  to 
denote  the  process,  it  proves  that  tattooing  must  be  here  in 
tended.  This  practice  is  less  common  among  the  islanders  in 
the  North  Pacific  than  in  the  South,  where  a  warmer  climate 
enables  them  to  show  off  their  pretty  colors  and  figures.  The 
courses  and  distances  from  Japan  here  given  would  land  us  in 
Alaska,  but  no  weight  can  be  attached  to  them  in  this  quota 
tion  from  the  Liang  Kecords. 

The  distinction  of  rank  indicated  by  the  different  lines  de 
scribed  in  this  extract  is  like  that  in  force  among  the  Eskimo 

VOL.    XI.  14 


20  Ma  Twan- Lin's 

tribes  near  Icy  Cape,  as  described  by  Armstrong  :  "  At  Point 
Barrow  the  women  have  on  the  chin  a  vertical  line  about  half 
an  inch  broad  in  the  center,  extending  from  the  lip,  with  a 
parallel  but  narrower  one  on  either  side  of  it,  a  little  apart. 
Some  had  two  vertical  lines  protruding  from  either  angle  of  the 
mouth,  which  is  a  mark  of  their  high  position  in  the  tribe" 
(Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  page  48).  The  practice  of  tattooing  has 
been  so  common  at  various  times  among  the  Chinese,  Japans-, 
and  other  inhabitants  of  Eastern  Asia,  that  nothing  can  be  in 
ferred  regarding  the  country  here  intended.  The  singular  no 
tice  of  filling  the  moat  with  quicksilver  may  be  paralleled  by 
Sz'ma  Tsien's  description  of  the  wonderful  subterranean  tomb 
of  the  great  conqueror  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti  (B.  C.  270)  in  Shensi, 
wherein  he  tells  us  that  "rivers,  lakes,  and  seas  were  imitated 
by  means  of  quicksilver  caused  to  flow  in  constant  circulation 
bv  mechanism." 


SECT.  xx. — TA  HAN  (<fc  g|),  OK  GREAT  CHINA. 

It  was  reported,  during  the  Liang  dynasty,  that  this  kingdom 
lay  more  than  five  thousand  li  east  of  Wan  Shan.  The  inhab 
itants  have  no  soldiers  or  weapons,  and  never  carry  on  war. 
Their  manners  and  customs  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  AVan 
Shan,  but  their  speech  differs. 

In  Chap.  231  of  the  Yuen  Kien  Lui  Han  ($|  g  g|  gj). 
a  valuable  Cyclopedia  compiled  by  orders  of  the  Emperor 
Kanghi  and  issued  in  1710,  this  section  is  quoted  verbatim 
from  the  Nan  Shi  of  Li  Yen-shau,  the  same  source  from  which 
Ma  Twan-lin  got  it.  Though  that  history  contains  the  records 
of  the  Liang  dynasty  (A.  D.  502-557),  it  was  not  written  till 
about  one  century  afterwards,  in  the  Tang  dynasty  ;  and  during 
that  interval  nothing  more  seems  to  have  been  learned  about 
the  lands  of  Fu-sang,  Ta  Han,  or  Nil  Kwoh.  Nor  had  Ma 
Twan-lin  found  anything  in  his  day,  six  centuries  afterwards, 
to  add  to  what  the  shaman  Hwui-shin  reported  ;  while  this 
Cyclopedia,  the  product  of  a  commission  of  learned  men  who 
ransacked  the  literature  of  China  to  find  whatever  was  valu 
able  and  insert  it,  contains  just  the  same  story,  hoary  with  the 
1200  years'  repose  it  had  had  in  the  Nan  Shi.  To  show  the 
carelessness  of  these  compilers  in  their  work,  in  Chap.  241 
another  kingdom  is  described  under  the  name  of  Ta  Han,  but 
not  a  word  is  added  to  indicate  how  two  kingdoms  should  have 
had  the  same  name.  This  last  is  equally  vague  with  the  first 
in  respect  to  its  identification,  and  reads  as  follows  :- 

"The  New  Kecords  of  the  Tang  Dynasty  say: — Ta  Han 
borders  on  the  north  of  Kuh  (f  jjf ) ;  it  is  rich  in  sheep  and 


Notices  of  flu-sang.  21 

horses.  The  men  are  tall  and  large,  and  this  has  given  the 
name  Ta  Han  (i.  e.  Great  China)  to  their  country.  This 
kingdom  and  Kuh  are  both  conterminous  with  Kieh-kuih-sz1  (|nf 
•H  J|f),  and  therefore  they  were  never  seen  as  guests  [in  our 
court].  But  during  the  reigns  Ching-kwan  and  Yung-hwui 
(A.  D.  627  to  656)  they  presented  sable  skins  and  horses,  and 
were  received.  It  may  be  that  they  have  come  once  since  that 
time." 

The  compilers  of  the  Cyclopedia  abridged  this  extract  some 
what,  for  they  do  not  refer  to  Lake  Baikal  ($|J  $$),  where 
Ta  Han  joins  the  countries  of  the  KieJt-kiah-sd  and  Kuh,  and 
thus  help  to  identify  it.  The  next  section  contains  an  extract 
of  seven  pages  from  the  New  Eecords  of  Tang  about  the  Kieh- 
kiah-sz1  or  Hakas,  whom  Klaproth  regards  as  the  ancestors  of 
the  Kirghis  now  dwelling  in  Tomsk.  If  half  of  this  account 
be  true,  the  Hakas  formed  a  powerful  kingdom  in  the  Tang 
dynasty,  and  their  neighbors  Ta  Han  and  Kuh  are  to  be  looked 
for  on  the  Kiver  Yenisei,  or  more  probably  between  the  An 
gara  and  Vitim  rivers. 

The  effort  of  Prof.  Neumann  to  identify  the  first-named  Ta 
Han  with  Alaska,  simply  because  he  places  Wan  Shan  among 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  and  Ta  Han  lies  5000  li  east  of  it,  is 
based  alone  on  reported  distances  that  are  mere  guesses.  Mr. 
Leland  also  refers  to  De  Guignes'  opinion  that  Ta  Han  meant 
Kamchatka,  and  that  Wan  Shan  was  Yezo,  and  adds  this  com 
ment: — "  De  Guignes  determined  with  great  intelligence  that 
the  country  of  the  Wen-schin,  7000  li  northwest  of  Japan,  must 
be  Jezo,  from  the  exact  agreement  of  the  accounts  given  of 
that  country  by  Chinese  historians  of  the  early  part  of  the  sixth 
century  (Goei-chi  and  Ven-hien-tum-hao,  A.  D.  510-515)  writh 
that  of  Dutch  navigators  in  1643.  Both  describe  the  extra 
ordinary  appearance  of  the  natives,  and  speak  of  the  abundance 
of  a  peculiar  mineral  resembling  quicksilver" — page  129.  Mr. 
Leland  has  been  misled  in  regard  to  this  agreement  by  not 
knowing  that  these  supposed  historians  are  only  the  names  of 
two  books,  viz :  Records  of  the  Wei  Dynasty  (A.  D.  386  to  543), 
and  the  same  Antiquarian  Researches  from  which  I  have  trans 
lated  these  six  sections.  He  also  assumes  that  Hwui-shin  and 
his  predecessors  went  by  sea,  adding  that  this  was  "  no  impos 
sible  thing  at  a  time  when  in  China  both  astronomy  and  navi 
gation  were  sciences  in  a  high  sense  of  the  word." 


SECT.  xxi. — CHU-JU  KWOH  (jffe   f||   g),  OR  LAND  OF  PYGMIES. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Chii-jii  the  men  are  four  feet  high.  Still  far 
ther  south  of  it  come  the  Black  Teeth  Kingdom,  and  the  Naked 
Peoples'  Land,  distant  from  Japan  over  four  thousand  li.  It  re- 


22  Ma  Twan-Lin's 

quires  a  year's  sailing  for  a  vessel  to  get  to  them.  About  ten 
thousand  li  to  the  southwest  live  islanders  whose  bodies  are  black 
and  eyes  white;  they  are  naked  and  hideous;  their  flesh  is  deli 
cate.  If  one  of  them  is  shot  with  an  arrow  when  traveling,  his 
body  is  eaten. 

In  Col.  Yule's  Marco  Polo,  it  is  stated  (vol.  ii.,  p.  358)  that 
the  number  of  islands  in  the  Indian  and  Pacific  oceans  is 
estimated  at  12,000  as  a  round  number  ;  and  in  his  Cathay,  he 
gives  a  European  map  of  that  region,  dated  1375,  in  which  the 
total  is  placed  at  7,548.  This  particular  figure  was  no  doubt 
obtained  from  Marco  Polo's  larger  number,  though  the  process 
of  derivation  is  not  clear.  One  of  the  islands  is  specially  marked 
Naked  Savages ;  it  lies  off  the  Chinese  coast,  near  where  the 
Pescadore  group  is  situated.  Of  these  four  islands,  that  of  the 
last  named  probably  refers  to  the  Australians,  if  the  distance 
from  Japan  is  at  all  to  be  considered ;  but  more  probably  the 
Dayaks  of  Borneo  are  meant.  The  Black  Teeth  Kingdom  need 
not  be  sought  after,  for  the  prevalence  of  Malay  tribes  which 
blacken  their  teeth  by  chewing  betel-nut,  the  usage  no  doubt 
referred  to,  makes  it  impossible  to  specify  any  particular  nation. 
The  Land  of  Pygmies  probably  denotes  those  parts  of  Celebes 
or  Papua  where  the  Negritos  still  form  a  portion  of  the  popula 
tion  ;  they  sometimes  come  to  Singapore  in  the  Bugis  vessels 
from  Celebes.  Edward  Lane  speaks  of  the  Arab  legends  re 
specting  pygmies  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  resolves  them 
all  into  bad  accounts  of  the  apes  so  common  in  the  Archipelago. 
It  is  more  likely  that  the  Arab  legends  had  travestied  the  men 
into  apes.  The  story  quoted  by  Friar  Oderic,  in  1318,  about 
the  pygmies  or  Biduini,  who  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Talay 
— "the  greatest  river  that  exists  in  the  world" — in  the  western 
part  of  China,  is  illustrated  by  Col.  Yule  (Cathay,  p.  121) 
with  his  usual  research ;  but  no  one  has  heard  of  them  since 
Oderic's  day.  In  Pickering's  Races  of  Men  (Bohn's  ed.,  pp.  175 
-180)  the  Negrillos  or  Negritos  are  described  as  still  inhabit 
ing  many  islands,  or  hiding  themselves  in  the  forests  of  the 
larger  ones  from  other  more  powerful  races  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago. 


SECT.   xxn. — CHANG-JIN   KWOH    (-g   J^   |g),  OR   THE   KINGDOM 

OF   GIANTS. 

This  land  is  situated  to  the  east  of  Sin-lo.  The  inhabitants 
belong  to  the  human  race ;  their  bodies  are  thirty  feet  high. 
They  saw  their  teeth  and  make  hooks  of  their  nails;  they  have 
black  hair  on  the  body,  and  crouching  bodies.  They  eat  no  food 
cooked  by  fire,  but  gnaw  birds  and  beasts,  or  pounce  on  a  man  in 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  23 

order  to  eat  him.  They  get  a  wife  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 
their  clothes.  Their  country  is  contiguous  to  a  range  of  moun 
tains  several  thousand  1%  in  extent,  in  which  there  is  a  narrow  pass 
or  canon  secured  firmly  by  a  two-leaved  iron  gate  called  the 
Guard-gate.  The  people  of  Sin-lo  constantly  maintain  a  guard  of 
several  thousand  bowmen  and  soldiers  to  defend  it. 

Bancroft  Ubwr* 

It  will  occur  to  the  English  reader  that  Dean  Swift  had 
probably  met  with  some  references  to  these  Chinese  notions  of 
strange  lands  in  his  reading,  and  developed  his  descriptions  of 
Lilliput  and  Brobdingnag  from  their  hints.  The  Pacific  Ocean  in 
his  day  was  a  region  of  wonders,  almost  as  much  as  in  the  time 
of  Marco  Polo  and  Ma  Twan-lin.  Sin-lo  (ft  jjg)  is  an  old 
name  for  a  kingdom  in  the  eastern  and  southern  part  of  Corea ; 
and  the  Land  of  Giants  must  therefore  be  looked  for  in  the 
islands  of  Quelpaert  and  Tsu-shima  near  by ;  or  in  some 
mountain  fastness  on  the  mainland.  There  is  less  to  suppose 
about  them,  however,  than  their  counterparts,  the  Pygmies ; 
for  not  even  a  fossil  fragment  has  yet  been  found  of  human 
beings  who  could  overtop  a  giraffe  or  a  dinornis. 

A  Japanese  notice  of  them  both,  with  other  monsters,  occurs 
in  the  Kun  Mo  Dzu  I  (|JJ|  JH  H|  fjj:)  or  Pictures  arranged 
in  Classes  to  teach  Children.  I  have  introduced  one  of  the 
drawings,  which  does  credit  to  the  native  artist  in  his  effort  to 
convey  some  idea  of  their  relative  sizes.  Eespecting  the  giants 
the  author  says  :  "  The  Chio-zhin  or  Tall  People  are  called  Se- 
ta/ca.  Some  people  during  the  Ming  dynasty  were  driven  out 
to  sea  by  a  tempest,  and  reached  the  land  where  these  people 
lived.  They  are  over  fourteen  feet  high,  and  very  skillful  in 
swimming."  -The  same  book  says  of  the  Pygmies: — "Their 
country  lies  to  the  eastward.  Their  bodies  are  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  inches  high.  In  that  region  the  storks  eat  these 
dwarfs,  so  that  they  always  t*o  in  companies  to  protect  them 
selves."  As  to  the  Chu-ju  (^  JH)  or  Pygmies,  this  writer  adds  : 
"They  are  called  issun  boshi,  i.  e.  inch  elfins,  for  they  measure 
only  one  inch  ;  another  name  is  tan-shin  or  short  people." 
Besides  the  above,  this  work  describes  the  Chio-hi  koku,  or  the 
Land  of  Long-armed  men,  a  small  country  in  the  Eastern  sea. 
"  The  people  have  cotton  clothes ;  their  arms  reach  to  the 
ground  as  they  stand,  and  are  seventeen  feet  long."  Their 
counterparts,  the  Long-legged  people,  will  run  as  fast  as  the 
wild  beasts. 

These  lands  are  of  course  placed  in  remote  regions,  and  most 
of  them  were  first  reached  by  sailors  driven  out  of  their 
reckoning,  just  as  in  English  literature  Lemuel  Gulliver, 
Robinson  Crusoe,  and  Peter  Wilkins  are  each  fabled  to  have 
reached  the  lands  associated  with  their  names  after  losing  their 


24 


Ma  Two.n-L m' 


Japanese  Pygmies  and  Giants. 

ships.  The  family  likeness  which  pervades  these  Asiatic 
stories  about  giants  and  pygmies  seems  to  point  to  a  common 
origin.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  the  Japanese  story 
of  the  pygmies,  whose  efforts  to  protect  themselves  from  the 
storks  will  recall  Homer's  allusions  to  those  who  dwelt  on  the 
coasts  of  Oceanus,  and  were  in  constant  danger  of  being 
snapped  up  by  cranes.  Pliny  put  them  in  Transgangetic 
India.  The  date  of  this  Japanese  work  is,  however,  too  recent 
to  preclude  the  inference  that  the  author  may  have  heard  of 
similar  Occidental  legends. 


SECT.  xxin. — KINGDOM  OF  LIU-KIU  (jEjj»  JjjjJ),  OR  LEWCIIEW. 

The  Lewchew  kingdom  is  an  island  in  the  ocean.  To  the  east 
of  the  prefecture  of  Tsiien-chau  [in  the  province  of  Fuhkien]  are 
the  islands  called  Pang-hu,  or  Pescadores.  They  lie  near  to^etlu-r, 
so  that  the  fire  signals  can  be  seen  from  each  other.  The  trip 
occupies  five  days'  sail.  There  are  many  caves  in  the  hills. 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  25 

The  surname  of  the  king  is  JTwan-sz1 '/  his  name  is  Ho-lah-tau  • 
it  is  not  known  whence  he  came,  but  there  have  been  many  gen 
erations  of  the  family.  The  people  of  that  country  call  him 
Jco-lao-yang,  and  his  wife  is  to-pah-tu  ;  the  place  where  he  lives  is 
Po-lo-tan  tung.  The  moat  around  it  has  three  separate  rows  of 
palisades,  one  behind  the  other ;  it  encircles  it  so  as  to  let  water 
flow  in.  Stockades,  for  defense,  are  made  of  *spinous  trees.  The 
largest  abode  of  the  king  has  sixteen  apartments ;  fine  carvings 
are  seen  in  them  of  beasts  and  birds,  and  also  numerous  jingling 
bells.  A  common  kind  of  tree  resembles  the  orange  with  thick 
foliage  ;  the  slender  branches  hang  down  like  hair. 

The  kingdom  has  four  or  five  generals  who  oversee  all  the  dis 
tricts  ;  each  district  has  a  petty  king.  Wherever  one  goes  there 
are  villages,  each  of  which  has  a  headman,  who  wears  an  orna 
ment  like  a  bird,  and  is  selected  for  his  skill  as  a  fighter.  They 
all  unite  in  setting  out  (or  apart)  trees,  where  the  affairs  of  the 
village  are  managed.  Both  men  and  women  bind  their  hair  with 
white  hempen  cords,  coiling  it  up  from  the  nape  of  the  neck  quite 
to  the  forehead.  The  men  make  a  cap  out  of  birds'  plumes,  in 
which  they  interweave  pearls  and  cowries,  and  further  adorn  with 
red  feathers ;  the  style  of  these  head-dresses  differs  much. 

The  women  make  caps  out  of  figured  soft  gauze  and  white 
cloth,  square  and  upright  in  shape ;  they  weave  jingling  bells  in 
leather  with  all  sorts  of  feathers,  and  thus  form  their  garments. 
The  shape  and  style  of  dresses  differ  much.  They  attach  feathers 
to  a  string  and  hang  on  periwinkle  shells  for  ornament,  so  that 
their  colors  shall  be  well  contrasted.  Small  cowries  are  sus 
pended  from  them  which  make  a  jingling  sound  like  a  chatelain  ; 
little  cymbals  also  hang  from  the  armlets,  and  strings  of  pearls 
around  the  neck.  Hats  are  braided  out  of  twining  plants,  and 
then  adorned  with  plumes  and  feathers.  They  possess  swords 
and  scabbards,  bows  and  arrows,  rapiers,  poniards,  and  other 
weapons.  Iron  is  very  scarce  in  the  kingdom,  so  that  their 
swords  being  thin  and  small,  they  employ  much  horn  and  bone  to 
strengthen  them.  They  plait  hemp  to  make  mail-armor,  or  else 
prepare  the  skins  of  bears  and  leopards  for  the  purpose. 

The  king  rides  in  a  wooden  car,  shaped  like  an  animal,  borne  on 
the  shoulders  of  his  guard  and  attended  by  a  retinue  of  about  ten 
men.  The  petty  kings  ride  in  a  frame  made  like  a  loom,  on  which 
hang  bells  resembling  animals.  The  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom 
delight  in  fighting  and  pugilistic  combats.  The  men  are  coura 
geous  and  brave  and  very  agile  in  running ;  they  show  contempt 
of  death  and  much  fortitude  when  wounded.  The  lords  of  the 
districts  employ  bands  of  retainers,  but  they  never  rescue  or  help 
each  other.  When  two  bands  of  warriors  are  pitted  against  each 
other,  three  or  five  men  from  each  will  rush  out  in  front  leaping 
and  yelling,  bandying  words  and  mutual  railings  before  they  rush 
together  and  shoot  their  arrows.  As  soon  as  one  side  is  worsted, 
the  whole  band  scatters  in  flight ;  messengers  are  then  dispatched 
to  make  an  apology,  and  all  parties  enter  into  a  peace  before  sep- 


26  Ma  Twan- Lin's 

arating.  If  any  of  their  number  were  killed  in  the  fight,  all  come 
together  and  eat  the  bodies ;  it  is  the  usage  to  put  the  skulls  and 
bones  around  the  king's  palace ;  he  confers  [on  those  who  slew 
them]  a  cap  of  honor,  and  they  become  leaders  in  the  band. 

There  are  no  regular  taxes  collected  ;  when  any  work  is  to 
be  done  there  is  a  general  levy  of  scutage  to  accomplish  it. 
There  is  no  well-settled  or  constant  scale  of  punishments,  but  the 
whole  community  assembles  to  deliberate  on  and  decide  the  cases 
after  careful  examination.  Criminals  are  all  sentenced  by  the 
bird-adorned  headman  [of  the  village]  ;  but  if  there  is  an  appeal, 
and  his  decision  does  not  end  it,  then  it  is  carried  before  the  king. 
He  orders  his  officers  to  assemble  in  general  council  upon  the  case 
and  give  their  final  verdict.  The  prisons  have  no  cangues  or 
keys,  for  the  prisoners  are  simply  bound  with  ropes.  Capital 
punishment  is  inflicted  with  an  iron  needle,  like  a  chopstick,  ten 
or  twelve  inches  long,  which  is  thrust  into  the  nape  of  the  neck. 
Lighter  crimes  are  punished  by  bambooing. 

There  is  no  written  character  among  the  people.  They  keep 
their  reckoning  of  time  by  noting  the  waning  and  waxing  of  the 
moon,  and  watch  the  flowering  and  fading  of  the  trees  and 
shrubs  to  learn  the  passage  of  the  year. 

The  people  have  deep-sunken  eyes  and  long  noses,  in  which 
they  resemble  the  Ouigours.  They  are  not  very  quick-witted. 
There  is  no  well-marked  distinction  between  the  high  and  low  in 
official  ranks,  nor  between  the  prince  and  his  ministers,  or  in  their 
acts  of  decorum  when  they  meet.  Father  and  son  sleep  in  the 
same  bed.  Young  men  pull  out  the  mustache  and  whiskers,  and 
remove  the  hair  from  the  body.  Married  women  mark  the  hands 
with  ink,  like  tattooing,  making  figures  of  snakes  and  insects. 
Marriages  are  performed  with  feasting  and  drinking;  pearls  and 
cowries  form  the  betrothal  presents.  If  a  young  man  and 
woman  like  each  other  then  they  make  a  match.  When  a  woman 
bears  a  child  and  suckles  it,  she  is  required  to  eat  the  placenta. 
After  parturition  she  roasts  herself  before  a  fire  in  order  to  sweat 
off  the  humors;  in  five  days  she  is  quite  well  again  and  all  right. 

Sea-water  is  poured  into  large  wooden  troughs ;  it  is  then  evap 
orated  in  the  sun  to  procure  salt.  The  sap  of  trees  is  used  to 
make  pickles.  Samshu  is  made  by  putting  leaven  into  rice ;  its 
taste  is  very  weak.  In  eating,  the  fingers  only  are  used.  If  one 
comes  across  a  rare  delicacy  he  first  goes  and  offers  it  to  his  over 
lord.  In  all  their  feasts  and  assemblies,  when  a  person  is  about  to 
drink  he  is  required  to  call  out  his  name  before  he  drains  the  cup. 
If  he  is  feasting  with  the  king  he  first  calls  out  the  king's  name, 
when  they  touch  their  goblets,  something  after  the  custom  among 
the  Toorks,  and  then  drain  them.  In  their  songs  they  keep  step 
as  they  cry  out;  one  man  sings  and  all  the  rest  keep  time  with 
him  ;  the  notes  are  rather  melancholy  and  exciting.  They  raise  a 
girl  up  on  their  shoulders,  and  then,  swinging  the  hands,  will 
dance  round  and  round  as  mummers  do. 

When  the  last  hours  of  a  sick  person  approach  they  lift  him  out 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  27 

to  the  arbor  in  front  of  the  house.  The  relatives  and  neighbors 
wail  and  weep  and  condole  together.  The  body  is  washed,  and 
then  swathed  and  bound  with  cotton  cloths,  after  which  it  is 
rolled  up  in  matting,  enveloped  in  earth,  and  then  put  in  a  coffin 
for  burial.  No  tumuluR  is  raised  over  it.  When  a  son  mourns 
for  his  father  he  eats  no  meat  for  several  months.  The  usages 
among  the  natives  in  the  southern  districts  are  a  little  different ; 
for  there,  when  a  man  is  dead,  the  villagers  and  townsfolk  come 
together  and  eat  the  body. 

Among  the  beasts  are  found  bears,  leopards,  and  wolves ;  pigs 
and  poultry  are  very  numerous,  but  horses,  asses,  sheep,  goats,  or 
oxen  are  quite  unknown.  The  fields  are  fertile  and  moist.  They 
are  first  burned  over  and  then  irrigated  through  sluices  in  which 
the  water  runs ;  the  streams  have  one  water-gate  only.  Stones  are 
used  for  coulters ;  they  are  about  fourteen  inches  long  and  several 
inches  wide ;  ground  is  plowed  with  them.  The  crops  are  rice, 
sorghum,  millet  (Milium),  spiked  millet  (Setaria),  pulse,  red  and 
black  and  large  beans,  etc.  The  trees  are  maple,  fir,  bamboo, 
lianos,  pine,  elm,  rottlera,  laurel,  and  fruit  trees.  The  medicines 
are  like  those  found  in  our  Middle  Kingdom.  The  air  and  seasons 
resemble  those  south  of  the  Nan-ling  range  of  mountains. 

The  popular  practice  in  worshiping  the  gods  of  the  mountains 
and  seas  is  to  offer  spirits  and  rich  delicacies.  To  those  who  are 
killed  in  a  battle  or  quarrel,  the  thing  which  killed  them  is  offered 
as  a  sacrifice  to  their  manes.  Sometimes  a  small  house  is  raised 
against  a  fine  large  tree;  or  the  skeleton  is  hung  in  the  tree  and 
the  people  shoot  arrows  at  it ;  or  a  tumulus  of  stones  is  raised 
over  the  body,  to  which  is  fastened  a  mourning  banner,  as  the 
ancestral  tablet.  Where  the  king  resides  many  skeletons  and 
skulls  are  brought  together  beneath  the  wall  screening  the  gate 
way  so  as  to  show  its  rank.  In  the  vacant  spaces  above  the  gates 
and  inner  doors  they  hang  the  heads,  bones,  and  horns  of  animals. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Yang-ti  of  the  Sui  dynasty  (A. 
D.  605),  admiral  Ho-man  and  others  gave  the  following  report: — 
"  During  the  spring  and  autumn  of  each  year,  when  the  sky  is 
clear  and  the  breeze  refreshing,  if  one  looked  eastward  he  saw 
something  thin  or  vapory,  like  1'oggy  smoke  arising  from  a  fire  ; 
one  could  not  tell  how  many  thousand  li  off  it  lay."  The  empe 
ror  ordered  Chu  Kwan,  the  master  of  the  horse,  to  go  to  sea  and 
search  for  this  region  and  find  out  its  customs.  Taking  Ho-man's 
words  for  his  clue,  and  several  of  his  people,  they  went  off 
together  and  reached  the  kingdom  of  Lewchew.  They  could  not 
understand  the  language  spoken  there,  so  they  seized  a  man  and 
returned.  Next  year  the  emperor  bade  Chu  Kwan  to  soothe  and 
re-assure  the  man ;  but  he  was  obstinate  and  gathered  his  clothes 
and  armor  to  go  back.  About  that  time  a  Japanese  envoy  came 
to  court,  and  seeing  the  man,  remarked :  "  This  savage  is  one  of 
the  men  employed  in  the  kingdom  of  Sie-kiu."  The  emperor  then 
ordered  Chin  Ling,  general  of  the  Tiger  Braves,  to  lead  a  body  of 
soldiers  and  cross  from  I-ngan  (Swatow  or  Chao-chau  fu)  to  the 

VOL.  xi.  15 


28  Ma  Twan-LiiSs 

island  of  Kao-wa  (the  Madjico-sima  group  V)  ;  from  thence  two 
days  more  took  them  to  Yuen-pi  (Kirrima  islands  ?) ;  and  another 
day  to  Lewchew.  The  people  there  would  not  submit,  and  gen 
eral  Chin  Ling  attacked  and  routed  them  ;  he  went  on  as  far  as 
the  capital,  where  he  burned  the  palace,  and  took  captive  several 
thousand  men  and  women,  whom  he  put  amongst  his  troops  with 
their  goods,  and  returned.  Since  that  time  intercourse  has  been 
broken  off. 

In  its  neighborhood  lies  the  kingdom  of  Pi-she-ye,  or  Formosa, 
whose  inhabitants  speak  an  unknown  language,  go  naked,  and 
have  such  a  stupid  look  that  one  can  hardly  imagine  them  to  be 
human.  About  the  year  A.  D.  1174,  in  the  Sung  dynasty,  a  chief 
tain  from  this  land  led  several  hundred  of  his  wild  followers  to  the 
towns  of  Shui-ngao,  Wei-tao,  and  others  in  Tsuen-chau  prefecture 
[in  Fuhkien],  where  they  slew  and  captured  many  people.  They 
highly  prized  iron  things,  spoons,  and  chopsticks.  The  inhab 
itants  shut  their  doors  and  fled,  but  took  their  door-rings ;  and  as 
they  went,  they  threw  away  the  spoons  and  chopsticks.  The  bri 
gands  stooped  to  pick  them  up,  which  constantly  delayed  their 
progress,  so  that  our  troops  were  able  to  catch  ami  bind  several. 
When  they  saw  an  armed  horseman  they  would  struggle  to  strip 
off  his  mail,  and  joining  their  heads  would  kill  him.  They  u>» •«! 
spears  in  fighting,  and  would  tie  a  string  to  the  weapon,  a  hun 
dred  feet  long  or  more,  so  as  to  pull  it  back  to  them,  so  highly  did 
they  prize  the  iron,  and  could  not  bear  to  throw  it  away.  They 
used  no  boats  or  oars,  but  sailed  about  on  bamboo  rafts ;  these 
could  be  piled  up  on  each  other  like  screens ;  if  an  emergency 
arose,  the  whole  company  would  lift  them  up,  set  them  afloat, 
and  thus  escape. 

This  account  probably  confounds  the  inhabitants  of  Lewchew 
and  Formosa  in  several  particulars,  yet  it  possesses  historical 
interest  as  one  of  the  earliest  references  to  those  islands.  The 
details  bear  internal  evidences  of  being  the  actual  observations 
of  travelers,  who  had  remained  there  long  enough  to  learn 
about  the  people  and  furnish  some  account  of  them.  In  this 
respect  it  is  far  more  satisfactory  than  the  priest  Hwui-shin's 
report  about  Fu-sang.  The  names  given  to  the  countries  near 
Lewchew  of  Kao-wa  (flf  ff),  Yuen-pi  ( f|  f|),  and  Pi-she-ye 
(tt  &  BB)'  which  I  have  identified  as  the  Madjico-sima  group, 
Kirrima  Islands,  and  Formosa,  must  be  received  with  some 
hesitation,  as  I  have  no  means  of  verifying  them  ;  and  their 
resemblance  in  sound  to  any  actual  localities  cannot  now  be 
expected. 

Ma  Twan-lin  names  no  authorities  for  this  notice  of  the  Lew- 
chewans;  but  as  the  allusion  to  the  descent  of  a  band  of  rovers 
from  Formosa,  in  1174,  during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Hiao- 
tsung,  speaks  of  an  event  which  took  place  only  about  seventy- 
five  years  before  his  own  birth,  there  is  reason  for  concluding 


Notices  of  Fu-sang.  29 

that  the  section  was  made  up  from  documents  and  books 
compiled  during  the  reign  of  Li-tsung,  under  whom  his  father 
held  high  office.  The  names  he  gives  to  the  king  and  queen  of 
Lewchew  and  his  residence,  as  Kwan-sz  ({ft  Jjf)  and  Ho-lah- 
«M  (ffi  M  5S),  Ko-lao-yang  (pf  5g  •£)  and  To  pah-tu  (%  ft 
3?),  with  Po-lo-tan  tung  ($£  jjfc  ^  flpj)  for  the  capital,  cannot, 
at  this  interval,  be  at  all  recognized  from  any  books  to  which 
I  have  access. 

In  concluding  these  extracts  from  Ma  Twan-lin's  writings, 
I  need  hardly  draw  attention  to  the  vagueness  which  marks 
them,  when  we  look  for  any  definite  information.  His  long 
chapter  on  Japan  bears  more  marks  of  well  digested  information 
than  any  of  those  which  are  here  given,  and  indicates  constant 
intercourse  between  it  and  China.  Mr.  Leland  quotes  from 
several  authors  whatever  will  elucidate  and  uphold  his  theory 
respecting  Fu-sang,  and  deserves  thanks  for  his  research  in  this 
interesting  question.  He  has,  however,  been  led  astray  by  a 
similarity,  or  an  error,  in  spelling  to  confound  Kamchatka  with 
Lewchew,  in  the  following  extract,  made  up  from  Steller, 
a  German  writer  of  1734:  "Lieu-kuei  (Loo-choo)  or  Hing-goci, 
as  the  Kamchatdales  of  the  present  day  term  their  fellow 
countrymen  dwelling  on  the  Penshinish  Bay,  is  situated, 
according  to  the  Chinese  Year  Books,  15,000  Chinese  miles 
distant  from  the  capital,  which,  according  to  the  measurement 
of  the  celebrated  astronomer  Than,  in  the  time  of  Tang,  gives 
about  338  to  one  of  our  grades — the  Chinese  grades  being  rather 
smaller  than  our  geographical.  Now  Si-gan,  the  capital  of  China 
during  the  dvnasty  of  Tang,  lies  in  the  district  Schensi,  lat.  34° 
15'  34"  N.  and  long.  106°  34'  E.  from  Paris.  Petropaulowski 
(Peter  and  Paul's  Haven),  on  the  contrary,  according  to  Preuss, 
lies  lat.  53°  0'  59"  N.  and  long.  153°  19'  56"  E.  from  Paris. 
These  are  differences  which  the  accounts  of  the  Chinese  Year 
Books  establish  in  an  astonishing  manner,  and  leave  no  doubt 
whatever  as  to  the  identity  of  Kamchatka  with  Lieu-kuei  ; 
for  it  is  certainly  satisfactory,  if  estimates  of  such  great  distances, 
drawn  in  all  probability  from  the  accounts  of  half-savage  sailors, 
or  quite  savage  natives,  should  agree  within  two  or  three  grades 
with  accurate  astronomic  results." — Fusang,  page  15. 

It  is  impossible  and  needless  to  analyze  this  melange,  for  it 
has  nothing  to  do  with  Fu-sang  or  its  locality;  but  it  led  me 
to  add  this  translation  of  Ma  Twan-lin's  section  on  Lewchew. 
Mr.  Leland  has  a  note  in  which  he  says,  "it  is  evidently  bor 
rowed  from  the  Tang-schu,  but  is  much  better  arranged,  and  con 
tains  some  original  incidents,  on  which  account  I  have  freely 
availed  mvself  of  it."  I  have  no  means  of  verifying  this  state 
ment,  and  therefore  am  unable  to  say  how  far  Ma  quoted  from 
the  History  of  the  Tang,  and  also  to  explain  whether  Kam- 


30  Ma  Twan- Lin's  Notices  of  Fu-sang. 

chatka  was  ever  called  Lieu-kuei,  and  what  the  Chinese  char 
acters  for  this  name  are  ; — or  whether  Lieu-kuei  is  a  misprint 
for  Liu-kiu  or  Lewchew.  The  name  of  this  insulin-  kingdom 
has  been  written  a  dozen  ways  by  foreigners  ;  it  is  called  Riu- 
kiu  by  the  Japanese,  Doo-choo  by  the  inhabitants,  Low-kow  by 
the  Cantonese,  and  Lewchew  by  the  Ningpo  people;  but  it 
could  never  have  been  confounded  with  Kamchatka  by  either 
of  them. 

Since  Commodore  Perry's  visit  in  1853  and  1854,  and  the 
residence  of  missionaries  ut  Napa,  these  islanders  have  become 
better  known  ;  and  the  halo  cast  around  them  by  Basil  Hall 
and  Lieut.  Clifford,  in  their  narratives  of  the  visit  of  the  frigate 
Alceste  in  1816,  has  been  dissipated.  They  began  to  have 
official  intercourse  with  China  in  1373,  when  Zai-to,  the  king 
of  Chung-shan,  sent  an  envoy  to  the  Emperor  Hungwu  at 
Nanking,  who  five  years  before  had  expelled  the  Mongols. 
In  1609,  they  came  under  the  control  of  the  prince  of  Satzuma ; 
but  during  the  interval  of  236  years  they  became  well  ac 
quainted  with  Chinese  literature  and  usages,  retaining  their 
own  spoken  dialect  of  the  Japanese.  The  kingdom  has 
latterly,  with  all  the  dependent  islands,  been  incorporated 
into  the  Japanese  empire,  under  the  name  of  Okinawa  ken, 
and  the  royal  family  recently  removed  to  Tokio. 

There  are  several  points  in  this  notice  of  Lewchew  which 
tally  with  what  is  now  seen  among  the  people.  The  manu 
facture  of  salt  from  sea-water  is  largely  carried  on,  as  the  trav 
eler  can  see  on  landing  at  Napa  or  Pu-tsung,  where  the  salt 
vats  employ  many  workmen.  The  custom  of  married  women 
staining  their  hands  with  a  dye,  so  as  to  resemble  tattooing,  is 
still  observed.  When  I  visited  Napa,  in  1837,  the  islanders 
had  not  seen  Europeans  for  twenty  years,  and  those  on  board 
the  ship  Morrison  were  strange  to  most  of  them.  Among  the 
party  which  landed  one  evening  for  a  stroll,  were  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
C.  W.  King.  We  were  surrounded  by  an  eager  crowd  as  soon 
as  we  stepped  ashore,  and  took  our  way  towards  a  hamlet  not 
far  off.  Seeing  a  woman  standing  by  herself  near  a  door,  Mrs. 
King  went  alone  towards  her,  and  held  out  a  hand  in  token 
of  friendliness,  while  the  rest  of  us  looked  on  until  the  inter 
view  had  disclosed  her  feelings.  The  woman  presently  came 
forward  and  showed  Mrs.  King  the  blue  mark  on  the  back  of 
her  hand  to  indicate  that  she  was  married  ;  but  her  amaze 
ment  at  seeing  Mrs.  King  begin  to  pull  off  a  glove  to  show  her 
that  she  was  not  thus  marked  was  a  study  to  the  rest  of  us,  for 
the  woman  thought  it  was  a  second  skin. 


